State Feminism and the Basque Women's Movement: Transforming Gender Relations in the Home

Abstract

This article explores the social and historical circumstances that contributed to the institutionalization of the Spanish Basque women's movement and in turn contributed to the development of a particular type of state feminism. In this context, state feminism is defined as the relationship between government political action directed at women through public institutions and the diffusion of the women's movement at the local level. State feminism is examined in relation to systems of gender relations and the division between the public and private domains. The day to day activities of the contemporary women's association, Mother of Alava, illustrates the ways government programs combine wih the mobilization of women at the local level to promote gender equality.